340 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the first summer, but in the following spring it was heard to utter the 

 whistle followed by a series of catcalls, when it first arrived. There- 

 after it was frequently heard throughout the summer. 



Mary M. Kussell (1929) gives an account of hearing a catbird imi- 

 tate the call of a whippoorwill. The imitation was short, staccato, 

 Avith a happy lilt, but very, very real. At one time when the catbird, 

 perched in the branches of a cherry tree, was singing his song. Miss 

 Russell began to whistle the whippoorwill call. He continued sing- 

 ing but was deaf to her call. She went closer and continued to whistle 

 the notes. After many repetitions the catbird suddenly stopped 

 short, perked up his head to one side, and after a moment of complete 

 silence sang whip-poor-will four times, 



Winton Weydemeyer (1930) writes of an unusual case of mimicry 

 by a catbird. A wandering male bobolink appeared at his ranch in 

 Montana where these birds are not common but in recent years have 

 been extending their range to the State. For at least half an hour 

 during the morning of May 31, when the bobolink first arrived, a 

 catbird from a nearby brushy flat perched on fence posts near the 

 flying bobolink and mimicked its song. In many of its imitations 

 it repeated the entire song of the bobolink, without introducing for- 

 eign notes or phrases. Another interesting feature of the performance 

 was the persistence of the catbird in repeating the imitation so many 

 times without the interspersion of other singing. On July 22 Mr. 

 Weydemeyer was astonished to hear what sounded like a typical flight 

 song of the bobolink. He then saw a catbird fly out and upward until 

 it reached a height of about 30 feet above the brush ; then while de- 

 scending at an angle, its flight slow and jerky, but not fluttering, it 

 gave a strikingly realistic rendition of the bobolink's flight song. This 

 is the first case of combined song and flight mimicry that the observer 

 had ever noted in the catbird. 



Dr. C. W. Townsend (1905) says for a moment he was deceived 

 by a catbird that swooped down one July day and flew across the 

 Ipswich River with a perfect kingfisher rattle and action. Later Dr. 

 Townsend (1924), in his excellent account of mimicry of voice in 

 birds, wrote : 



He appears to be constantly trying some new combination of notes, and some 

 of bis improvisations are very sweet and musical. These he occasionally repeats 

 in a manner of the brown thrasher, particularly when a musical phrase appears 

 to tickle his fancy. Thus I once heard a catbird rolling off a delightful phrase 

 which sounded like Peter-horo, Peterboro. This he repeated five or six times, 

 then mewed and tried something else. If the catbird would suppress his love 

 of bazarre and harsh notes, and of buffoonery and horseplay — for I suspect he 

 has a sense of humor — and would devote himself more continually to his musical 

 repertoire, he would rank among our best singers. 



Dr. Townsend gives us an imposing list of catbird imitations of 

 bird songs or their calls from his own experience and that of other 



